Valedictorians, disruptors, and sloppy thinking |

There’s a new blog post over at The 74 commenting on a “finding” that I’ve seen reported in other places (e.g., Inc and Forbes).
There are two parts to the claim.
“[Valedictorians] do well, but they don’t go on to change the world or lead the world.” Elsewhere these behaviors are characterized as those of “disruptors.”“School rewards people who follow the rules, not people who shake things up,”
This blog post would make a good final exam question for an undergraduate course in experimental methods. (If you like, head on over and see if you can find the problems in the claims.)